Trump slams CNN over inaccurate report

Washington, Dec 10 (IANS) The President of the UA took to Twitter on Saturday to blast the CNN news network for an erroneous report concerning one of his sons and when he knew about sensitive Democratic Party e-mails made public by WikiLeaks.

Donald Trump said at a political rally Friday night in Pensacola, Florida, that CNN had purposely erred in its report, for which the network was forced to issue a correction.

He then continued that theme Saturday on Twitter.

"Fake News CNN made a vicious and purposeful mistake yesterday. They were caught red handed," the head of state wrote.

Trump was referring to a Friday story in which CNN said Donald Trump, Jr., and other top Trump campaign officials had received an e-mail on September 4, 2016, that offered them a way to gain access to the allegedly hacked Democratic National Committee e-mails that WikiLeaks made available to the world on September 13, 2016.

Because of the date of the e-mail, the report seemed to indicate the Trump campaign may have had early, privileged access to information that could potentially harm the campaign of his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, Efe news agency reported.

The real date, however, was September 14, according to the Washington Post and other outlets that also saw the same e-mail, meaning that the Trump campaign was being offered information already available to anyone in the world with an Internet connection.

The Atlanta, Georgia-based cable and satellite news channel later issued a correction.

"CNN's initial reporting of the date on an email sent to members of the Trump campaign about WikiLeaks documents, which was confirmed by two sources to CNN, was incorrect," the media giant said in a statement. "We have updated our story to include the correct date, and present the proper context for the timing of email."

But Trump used the erroneous report to bolster his argument that the mainstream media is biased against him and untrustworthy.

"CNN'S slogan is CNN, THE MOST TRUSTED NAME IN NEWS. Everyone knows this is not true, that this could, in fact, be a fraud on the American Public. There are many outlets that are far more trusted than Fake News CNN. Their slogan should be CNN, THE LEAST TRUSTED NAME IN NEWS!" the President tweeted Saturday.